Keep Reading Fun Day: Motivating Books are Key!

Once again it is Monday (or as like to I call it around here "Keep Reading Fun Day").  Last week, I wrote about the power of reading aloud and this week I am going to write about what I have found is key to come next, finding books that motivate young beginning readers to want to read.

It can be very tempting to find the correct reading level for a child (a student or my own) and to give them a book at that level and expect them to start reading. At least I have made that mistake at times.

About a year ago, my oldest son was ready to begin reading and I gave him books that were at the exact correct level for his current (very beginning) reading stage. Unfortunately, I had made a big strategic mistake. While some kids will read through books that don't interest them my son found this miserable. Part of it is probably personality and part of it is probably those wonderful read alouds. He had heard such wonderful stories that the very short books he was then able to read seemed very disappointing by comparison.

All I wanted was for my son to love reading and he professed to hate it. Ouch! What could I do? (I promise this story has a happy ending. Please keep reading :o) )

And The Winner Is... (plus a pic from the book launch of THE EMERALD RING)

And the winner of a copy of WHERE DO DIGGERS SLEEP AT NIGHT? is Rachel Writes 4 Kids! Hope your nephew enjoys it Rachel!

Thanks so much to all for helping me to celebrate DIGGERS first birthday! (It seems like just yesterday she was a newborn. :o) )

This week I also had the pleasure of attending a wonderful book launch party for Dorine White's fantasy novel THE EMERALD RING.

Below is a picture of me Dorine and a very special attendee at the celebration. (At least he's very special to me!):

It was a pleasure to watch his face as he listened to Dorine read her book's exciting opening. Can't wait to read THE EMERALD RING together (once we are able to take a brief break from his beloved Boxcar Children)!

p.s. My comma key does not seem to be working. My apologies for any and all missing commas. :o)

KidLitCares for Oklahoma

Right now, we all want to do anything we can to help Oklahoma. And children's book author, Kate Messner has put together a special way for the kidlit community to help out.

There's an opportunity to help the people of Oklahoma through a donation to American Red Cross Disaster Relief. And a chance to win one of many awesome children's books (including "Where Do Diggers Sleep at Night?").


Information about how to participate is included in the link below. And, if you're an author with a published book, you can email Kate and let her know you would like to donate a copy.

Here is the link to Kate's post:

http://www.katemessner.com/lets-help-kidlitcares-for-oklahoma/

Please participate if you can!

WHERE DO DIGGERS SLEEP AT NIGHT? is Turning One! (A Book Giveaway!)

Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear DIGGERS! Happy birthday to you!

Yes, believe it or not, today is May 22nd and it is the first birthday of my debut picture book, WHERE DO DIGGERS SLEEP AT NIGHT?.

It has been quite a year for DIGGERS (and for me too)! She has been read by kids all over the country (and in many other countries too.) She has been read at loads of school visits and bookstore storytimes.She has helped me to do many, many truck slumber parties. And, she has become a bedtime favorite for many truck loving boys and girls.

To celebrate DIGGERS first birthday, I'm going to host a book giveaway. Entering is easy:

Good News Day Tuesday: Book Launch for The Emerald Ring by Dorine White (includes an author interview!)

Please note: This very happy new feature was scheduled far in advance of yesterday's tragedy. My heart goes out to those in Oklahoma. Sending love, thoughts and prayers...

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So I renamed Monday, "Keep Reading Fun Day", and now I'm renaming Tuesday, "Good News Day Tuesday". (Can you tell I write rhyming picture books? :o) ) Every Tuesday, I'm going to try to share some good news from around the kidlit community, so we can celebrate with our fellow authors and illustrators.

And today, we're going to celebrate with (drumroll please)....

Dorine White!

I had the pleasure of meeting Dorine at the amazing Western Washington SCBWI conference I attended recently, where she told me the exciting story of her upcoming debut novel, THE EMERALD RING.

Since tomorrow night (5/22) is Dorine's book launch (at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park at 7:00), I thought her wonderful book news would make a perfect first bit of cheer.

So here's a brief interview with Dorine:

Monday is "Keep Reading Fun Day" (and what my kids learn from read-alouds)

Father's Day read-aloud on the ferry!

I write children's books, I read children's books and I love children's books. I also care deeply about helping kids to love reading them too.

Since helping kids love reading and books is something I care so much about, I have decided to rename Monday on my blog. Instead of Monday, it is now "Keep Reading Fun Day," and every Monday, I will post about something I'm trying to do to keep reading fun for kids.

Especially as Mommy to a learning-to-read 6-year-old, these tips are super important for me to remember. I want my son  learn how to read. But I also want him to love reading once he has learned how. (And the same for my 4-year-old, once he is ready.)

So, for today's first  "Keep Reading Fun Day", I will focus on the power of Read-Aloud!

Welcome to Brianna's Book Stop (and a conference summary)!

Hi! I'm Brianna and I'm so happy to welcome everyone to my brand-new blog, Brianna's Book Stop! I hope this blog is going to be like a truck stop for everyone who loves kidlit-- writers, teachers, librarians, parents, booksellers and kids.

For my first post, I wanted to share with you just a taste of the conference I went to last month-- SCBWI Western Washington's 22nd Annual Writing and Illustrating for Children Conference. It was an incredible get-together for writers and here is just a taste of the wonderful inspiration I got there: